With a month to go before fall camp begins for college football teams all over the country, we'll begin a weekly series where we rank the top seven athletes at every position in the Mountain West Conference.

We'll start ranking two new positions every week, with posts appearing every morning and every afternoon.

The schedule is as follows:

MWC Watch

July 6-12: Tight ends and linebackers

July 13-19: Running backs and defensive ends

July 20-26: Wide receivers and defensive backs

July 27-August 2: Quarterbacks and coaches

Here's our pick for the fourth-best tight end in the Mountain West Conference.

MWC Watch: No. 4 TE

Gabe Linehan

(Boise State, Senior, 6-foot-3, 248-pounds)

Gabe Linehan was supposed to have a breakout season in 2012. Expectations were high for the 6-foot-3, 248-pounder after he put up 252 receiving yards and scored five touchdowns in his sophomore year in 2011.

But 2012 also happened to be Boise State’s first year without quarterback Kellen Moore. The passing attack struggled under Moore’s replacement, Joe Southwick, and Linehan was hampered by a pesky hamstring injury that he couldn’t shake.

In the end, he played in only four games and also had to miss the bowl game.

Still, Linehan showed a glimpse of what he could do during his sophomore season, where he started in nine games and finished as Boise State’s second best tight end.

If he’s fully healthy in 2013, Linehan could make an immediate impact for the Broncos at tight end.

Linehan has been named to the watch list for the John Mackey Award that goes to the best tight end in the nation annually. He’s a versatile, athletic weapon who could help get the Broncos’ passing attack back in gear after a less than impressive 2012 campaign.